Kicking tees that exist in modern sport and are widely known, particularly with respect to football and rugby, are generally plastic or rubber platforms having prongs extending upwards or a brim around an inner depression. The prior art in this field is plentiful with many variations of regulation kicking tees, all of which present drawbacks that are solved by the present invention, which discloses a new and unique kicking tee with multiple improvements over the prior art.
With current widely used kicking tees, there is some guesswork as to the “sweet spot” of the football and setting it up for the ideal kicking angle, depending on the type of kick and desired trajectory of the ball. The structure of the prior art tees provides a limited degree range of ball lean and placement angles that the tee can support so that contact can be made with the football's sweet spot; and often result in the ball falling over in high wind conditions.
Additionally, many prior art tees, as a result of the hardness of materials of the tees or the height of the prongs have caused injuries by players kicking the tee, falling on top of the tee or by running or rolling over the tee during the play.
Several attempts have been made to perfect kicking tees in this field of invention including those found in the following prior art: U.S. Pat. No. 3,309,087, issued Mar. 14, 1967 to Cullity; U.S. Pat. No. 3,516,667, issued Jun. 23, 1970 to Williams; U.S. Pat. No. 4,428,910 issued Dec. 6, 1983 to Stenerud; U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,397 issued to Kopp; U.S. Pat. No. 4,657,252 issued Apr. 14, 1987 to Speigel; U.S. Pat. No. 5,690,564 issued Nov. 25, 1996 issued to Frantz; U.S. Pat. No. 5,690,564 issued Nov. 25, 1997 issued to Hassard; U.S. Pat. No. 6,309,316 issued Oct. 30, 2001 to Spiegel; U.S. Patent Pub. No 2004/0097304 published on May 20, 2004, by Sharp; U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2012/0058841 published Mar. 8, 2012 by Spiegel; U.S. Pat. No. 8,262,514 issued Sep. 11, 2012 to Spiegel; U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2012/0329582 published Dec. 27, 2012 to Spiegel; U.S. Pat. No. 8,469,840 issued Jun. 25, 2013 to Mourouzis; U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2014/0349784 published Nov. 27, 2014 by Holland; U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2015/0182832 published Jul. 2, 2015 by Spiegel; and International References including: WO 2005/068027 issued Jul. 28, 2005 to Davis; WO 2006/024053 issued Mar. 2, 2006 to Annandale; WO 2012/019221 issued Feb. 16, 2012 to Hopgood.
The present invention addresses a long felt need in the art by presenting a kicking tee capable of a greater degree of placement angles, improved performance, versatility and safety, making the present invention unique, useful, and highly marketable over all prior art in the field.